I stumbled across this looking for something else and it was too funny (as well as potentially timely given the upcoming Scottsdale State of the City address) not to share it:
Known commonly as the jackass, this long-eared little creature is respected throughout the southwest—roundly cursed yet respected—and here he is usually referred to by his Spanish name, burro. Because of his extraordinary bray, he is sometimes ironically called the “Arizona Nightingale.”
Arizona: A State Guide (The WPA Guide to Arizona) from the American Guide Series of the Federal Writers Project, a part of the Works Progress Administration (1935-1943). p. 57, in “The Sunburnt West of Yesterday,” Hastings House (1940).